maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater ; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of mv mouth : it shall not return unto me void, but shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. . . . Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree ; and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree : and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off2."
If it be asked, How the Gospel effects this change? I answer, It reveals a Saviour to us in all the won- ders of his love ; and thus generates in the soul a desire to serve and honour him. No sooner do we see that we have been " bought with a price," than we desire to " glorify God with our bodies and our spirits, which are hisa." In aid of these new desires, it brings down the Holy Spirit into the soul. That Divine Agent is promised to all who believe in Christ: and Christ does send him down into the hearts of his people, to " strengthen them with might in their in- ward manb," and to "work all their works in them0." Thus they become " sanctified in body, soul, and spirit d," and are rendered " meet for the inheritance of the saints in light6." Thus does the Gospel sanctify men; filling them zvith next) principles, to which they were utter strangers before ; and imparting to them new pozvers, which none but a believing soul can ever exercise.
I add once more, the Gospel is sufficient for our complete salvation. In no situation whatever can we be placed, wherein it does not afford us " strength equal to our day f." It not only makes us conquerors, but " more than conquerors ;" rendering our very troubles a source of joyg, and our conflicts an occa- sion of more exalted triumphs. Behold the Apostle Paul under a trial of no ordinary kind ; a trial so grievous that it seemed almost entirely to overwhelm
z Isai. lv. 10, 11, 13. a 1 Cor. vi. 20. b Eph. iii. 16.
c Isai. xxvi. 12. d 1 Thess. v. 23. e Col. i. 12.
f Deut. xxxiii. 25. s Rom. v. 3.